War between Russia and Ukraine: At least five dead after rocket fragments scattered over beachgoers in Crimea

CNN
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At least five people were killed and more than 100 injured when rocket fragments fell on beachgoers during a Ukrainian attack on the city of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea, authorities said.

“Unfortunately, we currently have 124 victims, including three dead children and two dead adults,” Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a Telegram post that Ukraine carried out the attack with “US-supplied operational tactical ATACMS missiles equipped with cluster warheads.”

Four missiles were shot down by Russian air defenses, but another “deviated from its trajectory due to the impact of the air defenses in the final section, with its warhead exploding in the air above the city,” the post continued.

Video footage posted on X shows the aftermath of the attack. Wounded civilians are carried off the beach on stretchers and loaded into vehicles. Beachgoers, some of them still in swimwear, evacuate the area.

One of the victims of the Ukrainian attack was the daughter of Oleg Averyanov, the deputy mayor of Magadan. Yuri Grishan, the mayor of Magadan, said Averyanov’s daughter Sofia is nine years old and is on vacation in Sevastopol with her parents.

The high number of casualties is partly due to the timing of the attack. It took place “at a time when some of the civilians were returning from work and some had already gone to the beach with their children,” said Governor Razvozhayev, who declared a day of mourning.

According to eyewitnesses, there was no air raid siren on site to warn of the attack. Many residents expressed their displeasure in the comments of the official posts that the air raid siren did not warn them of an impending attack.

In response to the Ukrainian attack on Sevastopol, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that “such actions would not go unanswered.” Responsibility for the attack lies with Washington.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin was in constant contact with Sevastopol authorities, adding that the Russian government’s priority was to provide all necessary assistance to the victims, RIA reported.

Ukraine has not officially commented on the attack, but CNN has reached out to the Ukrainian military for comment.

Crimea has been occupied by Russia since the annexation of the peninsula by Russian forces in 2014. Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Crimea has been sporadically attacked by Ukrainian forces.

Kyiv had previously stressed that the attacks on Crimea, which targeted Russian naval bases and ships, were an integral part of the country’s strategy. Their aim was to isolate the peninsula and make it difficult for Russia to maintain its military operations on the Ukrainian mainland, a Ukrainian source familiar with the strategy told CNN last year.

Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Sevastopol – Crimea’s largest city – was a popular tourist destination for Russians. Even after the war broke out, Russians continued to flock to the coastal city despite the dangers.